Police: Cybercrime

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects the regional police squads established to tackle cyber crime to be operational; and what (a) budget and (b) personnel will be provided for those squads.

Mr. Hanson
The work of the Association of Chief Police Officers e-crime Committee includes a project to set up regional cyber crime teams. Chief constables have a budget which they are able to use on the priorities for their forces. Any decision on funding or staffing for regional teams is a matter for the chief constables for that region.

Mrs. Curtis-Thomas
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what mechanisms are in place to co-ordinate the work of police forces in reducing levels of cybercrime.

Mr. Hanson
The Government have provided £3.5 million over three years to support the work of the police central e-crime unit (PCeU). One of the roles that the PCeU has been given is to develop the response to e-crime across the police service. The co-ordination of that work is a matter for the police and for ACPO.